The Hundred: 30 to 21

30: Anya Shrubsole

As a child, I was aware of Rachel Hayhoe-Flint and her fellow posh girls in skirts but it was only about ten years ago when women’s cricket broke through and turned pro. One of the biggest names to emerge from England’s youthful set-up was Anya Shrubsole, I suppose I was especially interested because she’s from Somerset but her medium-pace bowling was famed for its economy, especially in limited-overs, and she took 4-11 in the Ashes T20 finale  I watched in Cardiff five years ago. Her 6-46 effectively won England the World Cup in 2017.

29: Hashim Amla

There’s something almost supernatural watching a batsman oozing elegance, compiling runs by means of technical excellence, timing, finding the gaps, knowing when to play and when to leave. For several years, Hashim Amla seemed to epitomise such cricketing wizardry. He was close to international retirement when I saw him struggle for fluency against Afghanistan in last year’s World Cup at Cardiff but several years earlier he was probably the finest ODI and Test batsman in the world. I also found it immensely satisfying watching a devout Muslim succeeding in South Africa, a nation which for so long treated such people as 2nd-class citizens. 

28: John Snow

In the early 1970s, genuinely quick bowlers with attitude were usually associated with Australia or the West Indies. However, England had its own fiery fast man in John Snow. He was constantly in trouble with umpires and authorities and I remember in 1971 disliking him intensely for deliberately barging Gavaskar to the ground and slinging his bat towards him. However, in time I came to appreciate his bowling and in the back garden I would copy his bowling action more than anyone’s.

27: Craig Overton

Pace bowlers have traditionally struggled on the flat Taunton pitches but in the early Noughties along came not one but two extremely promising teenagers from North Devon: Craig and Jamie Overton. As twins they were pretty much indistinguishable and, based on the names printed on their shirts, I dubbed them ‘Coverton’ and ‘Joverton’. The former has proved himself the most consistent, in form and fitness, and so gets the nod over his twin, although both have been superb so far this year. Unlike Jamie, Craig has thankfully signed a new contract with Somerset. 

26: Malcolm Marshall

However, when it comes to high-class quicks, surely none can measure up to Malcolm Marshall. Like Snow, he was sub-six feet tall but could generate fearsome pace off even a short curving run-up, delivering perfect bouncers, yorkers, seam or swing apparently at will. His first-class career bowling average was an extraordinary 19.10 and barely 20 in Tests where he often bowled first-change for the West Indies. He also took over a thousand wickets for Hampshire and, 21 years after his tragic death from cancer, he is remembered as one of the greatest fast bowlers - ever. 

25: Zaheer Abbas

In the ‘70s and early ‘80s, the bespectacled Pakistani was probably the most prolific batsman in county cricket, and that includes the likes of Boycott, Richards and Lloyd. Glancing at the weekly averages in the newspaper, Zaheer Abbas would inevitably appear near the top, with few others able to beat his aggregate of runs and centuries. I saw him play for Gloucestershire only once, making just 8 in a 1981 Sunday League clash, but I’d love to have witnessed him in his Championship or Test pomp. With the red ball, I’d rate him above Miandad and Inzamam any day. 

24: Mike Procter

Coincidentally, Mike Procter also played in that 40-over game at Bath, top-scoring with 91, but he was a different kind of Gloucestershire legend. Robbed of international cricket throughout the ‘70s, the South African bestrode the county game like a colossus, definitely one of the best all-rounders of his generation. He struck 48 first-class hundreds and claimed well over 1,000 wickets, with a mix of off-spin and whirlwind pace delivered with a distinctive ‘wrong-foot’ chest-on action. I also loved his easy-going attitude at a time when the game was going through major changes. 

23: Geoff Boycott

When it comes to love-hate characters in cricket, Boycott was possibly the most Marmite of them all – and still is. He played up to the forthright, bloody-minded Yorkshire stereotype as player and commentator but on the pitch his prolific run-scoring simply had to be admired. His career aggregate of 48,426 first-class runs, most of them for his county, will surely never again be surpassed. I remember vividly when at Leeds in ’77 for England he struck that boundary through mid-on to register his 100^th ton, an emotional moment, and not just for Boycott himself. 

22: Saeed Anwar

One of the finest innings I remember witnessing live was the 102 completed by Saeed Anwar for the Pakistan tourists against Essex one warm August afternoon in 1996. The left-handed opener reeled off a series of crisp drives, cuts and pulls  to delight purists like me, and his strokeplay proved easy on the eye in countless Tests and ODIs during the Nineties, notably in his 146-ball 194 against India in ’97. He was also unusual in that his Test record is better outside Pakistan than at home. 

21: Aravinda de Silva

When Sri Lanka announced themselves as a major force on cricket’s global stage by winning the 1996 World Cup, Aravinda De Silva was the undisputed Man of the Match in the final, taking 3-42 and steering his side to victory with an unbeaten 107. I saw him score an unremarkable 42 at Lord’s in a one-off Test in 1991 but I always enjoyed watching him bat. I hadn’t realised he was shorter than me - after all, most of the Sri Lankan side back then were vertically-challenged – but it was Aravinda’s carefree approach to batting and ready smile which were his most endearing traits.

Tom Latham - Carrying his bat

When the statisticians flung out the figures following Tom Latham’s record-breaking 264 not out, I was amazed that he was only the 56^th man to bat throughout a completed Test innings without being dismissed. In a year when  only Mushfiqur Rahim had reached 200 in Tests, it was also remarkable that the New Zealander’s score was the highest ever by a player ‘carrying his bat’.

He eclipsed the previous best, achieved by Alastair Cook only a year ago in Melbourne. However, remarkably, one man has carried his bat twice this year: Dean Elgar. At Jo’burg in January he ran out of partners in a losing chase against India then, two months later, his unbeaten 141 laid the foundation for a thumping victory over Australia, a game unfortunately remembered more for Steve Smith Cameron Bancroft and David Warner coming a cropper for cheating.

Latham is typical of a traditional bat-carrier: an old-school blocker, the guy you need in a Test side to anchor an innings while others make the strokes. He spent more than eleven hours at the crease, facing 489 balls, representing a strike rate not too shabby, even by modern standards. Mind you, he didn’t start to push on until joined by the Black Cap tail, and only 90 of his runs came in boundaries. But of course that doesn’t matter when you have colleagues like Williamson, Taylor and de Grandhomme at the other end upsetting the Sri Lankan attack.

Two players have carried their bat in Tests three times: Elgar and the great West Indian from the '80s and '90s, Desmond Haynes. The latter was no slouch but, when compared with his long-time opening partner Gordon Greenidge and the likes of Viv Richards, Carl Hooper and Brian Lara, he was a stonewaller. These three occasions were in a mixed trio of circumstances, the matches resulting in a draw defeat and victory.

There are some familiar obdurate openers on the list, from Atherton to Lawry, Gavaskar to Dravid, Kirsten to Turner, but also some of the most flamboyant cricketers of modern times. In 2009, Chris Gayle struck 165 out of a second innings 317 at Adelaide which effectively prevented defeat against the Aussies.

One of the most memorable displays of bat-carrying came at Hobart seven years ago. In a very low-scoring game against New Zealand, Australia needed 244 to win. Up to then, only two players had passed 40 and the Aussie batsmen were maintaining that grim record – all except David Warner. While Bracewell was causing carnage at the other end, he produced a brilliant innings of 123 which took his side to within seven of the target before Lyon was bowled.

However, perhaps the greatest effort happened in 2008 at Galle. As all around him lost their wickets at an alarming rate, Virender Sehwag just stuck to his normal game and flayed 201in 231 balls out of a first innings total of 329. He added 50 on his second outing and India went on to win decisively.

I wouldn’t mind betting that Geoff Boycott would have relished carrying his bat. Even if he scored only one not out. But if there was one thing the Yorkshire legend loved even more, it was scoring centuries. Therefore, he must have been fuming when, in Perth almost four decades ago, whilst endeavouring to stave off almost certain defeat, he was left high and dry on 99 not out. Coincidentally, the Aussie Kim Hughes had earlier been dismissed on 99 while Boycott’s 20-ball first innings facing Lillee and Dymock had yielded precisely nothing.

In the end, carrying the bat is a feat nobody aims for. It may boost your average but, more often than not, it’s indicative of a poor team performance overly reliant on one batsman. Tom Latham’s case is an exception: he just kept on going and showed why old-fashioned values of knowing when to play and when to leave can reap dividends in what is likely to be a winning cause.

Brian Close - Not just a Yorkshire legend

To me, Brian Close has always been old. Probably his premature baldness and creased forehead, but to a teenager, a forty-something cricketer was always going to appear a symbol of ancient history. Thus to learn he has died at the age of only 84 seems a bit of a surprise.

My first years as a Somerset supporter coincided with his captaincy of the county. He was playing in the first cricket match I ever went to see live, a Sunday League game at Chelmsford in 1975. I don't think he scored many runs or took wickets but I recall his distinctive short-leg pose (yes, in a 40-over match!), backside high, the rockface of a head jutting into the batsman's eyeline, hands cupped ready to make that improbable catch.

That Somerset won that game probably owed more to 21 year-old Viv Richard's strokeplay than to Close's performance, but Close was like the grouchy granddad to young guns like Viv, Botham and Denning. Sadly we didn't achieve very much under his leadership but Somerset didn't have the resources of his beloved Yorkshire, which he'd left as a player in 1970.

He was always a Yorkshireman, and won plenty with his home county in the 1960s. Later on, he was involved with many a skirmish as an administrator, locking horns with another professional Tyke, Geoff Boycott, amongst others. Many writers more knowledgeable than me have written about his legendary courage. When he was selected to represent England against the West Indian pace quartet in 1976, it was purely to soak up the short-pitched stuff rather than actually score any runs. No helmets in those days, of course. This is now celebrated as the brave and bloody-minded attitude of a true Yorkshireman. But he was still captain of my Somerset!

In almost four decades, he represented England only 22 times, including seven as skipper (winning six!) while becoming a selector much later. His meagre collection of runs and wickets in the national cause are less important than his captaincy. Never afraid to try different things and court unpopularity in the cause of victory, this cost him plentiful appearances in an England cap.

His longevity in international cricket will surely never be beaten. While Tendulkar played many, many more matches at the top level, he couldn't match Close's 27-year career! His first Test in 1949 against New Zealand wasn't a huge success, batting at nine for a duck and taking a solitary wicket. He started out alongside the likes of Hutton, Washbrook and Compton and finished in a side featuring Woolmer, Hayes and Selvey who had each been in nappies at the time of Brian's debut!

While in my time he was a wise old Somerset captain and confrontational Yorkshire administrator, it's easy to forget his statistics on the pitch. He played almost 800 first-class matches, enough to give the likes of Cook and Anderson the heebeegeebees. I those games, he scored almost 35,000 runs and took well over 1,000 wickets with his mix of spin and medium pace. Add to that his 813 catches, mostly adjacent to the batsman, and you have one hell of an all-rounder. One-day cricket wasn't really his thing, but his decision-making was probably worth a lot of runs.

His autobiography title said he didn't 'bruise easily' but I'm not sure that was true; it's just that he didn't flinch or show any weakness. Brian Close was a throwback to not one, but numerous cricketing eras. On and off the pitch, he made more of a contribution to the sport in England than almost anyone since World War 2. That should not be forgotten.

Mike Denness RIP

Just four months after Tony Greig passed away, it is doubly sad that cricket has today lost his immediate predecessor as England captain, Mike Denness. While the obituaries all remark upon his gentlemanly demeanour and classy batsmanship, I never actually met him and so cannot comment. The closest I got was taking a photo of a smiling Denness on the boundary at Chelmsford in a Sunday League match, and he certainly seemed a very affable character.

His tenure as England skipper was marked by a clash with Geoff Boycott in 1974. Of course, the Yorkshire opener could start an argument with his own shadow but in this case it was basically because Denness was Scottish, or that he wasn't good enough as a batsman or, especially, because Boycott wanted the job himself. Either way, England were roasted by Lillee, Thomson et al in 1974-75 and an innings defeat to the Aussies at Edgbaston the following summer ended both his captaincy and international career. Denness could hardly be blamed for that loss, nor the absent Boycott. Another batsman bagged a pair on his debut in that match, and went on to be one of England's most enduring opening batsmen of recent times: Graham Gooch!

Like a later captain, Mike Brearley, Denness wasn't a world-class batsman but his England statistics were not to be scoffed at. In his 28 Tests, 19 as skipper, he averaged almost 40, pretty good in those days, including four centuries. Curiously, they came in pairs, two against India in 1974 and then against the Aussies and New Zealand the following winter. His 188 at Melbourne contributed to a rare Ashes innings victory and was small compensation for the four previous defeats on that tour.

In a twenty-one year career, Mike played more than 500 first-class matches and 232 one-dayers, compiling more than 30,000 runs in total. For most of that time, his name was synonymous with Kent, and he led them with distinction in the early 1970s, his record clearly winning approval from the England selectors looking for a successor to Illingworth, Fletcher and Lewis. Along with the likes of Luckhurst, Knott and Underwood, he was a stalwart at Canterbury and was president of Kent CCC when he died. I'm not sure what prompted his move to Essex in the Seventies, when I saw him play, but his first county were to welcome him back later on after his controversial stint as an ICC referee earned him notoriety and vilification from Indians. He even had his effigy burned by fans after sanctioning six players, including Saint Sachin, in South Africa eleven years ago. Maybe Sir Geoffrey was sticking pins in a Denness doll at the same time.

Better to remember Mike Denness as an attractive cricketer, decent bloke and a man who served Kent, Essex, England - and Scotland - so admirably for so long.